One of Hokkaido's 14 regions
Nemuro根室
The wild east — famed first sunrise, last frontier.
Nemuro is where Japan runs out — and where Hokkaido feels wildest. Cape Nosappu is famed as the spot that greets the country's earliest sunrise; the impossibly thin Notsuke Peninsula curls into the sea past ghost forests of dead trees; sea eagles patrol the winter coast and dairy pastures roll inland as far as sight.
The Shiretoko peninsula's quieter eastern shore belongs to this region too, with whale and orca watching out of Rausu. Food here is blunt and superb: Hanasaki crab, salmon from Shibetsu, milk from Betsukai. Few travelers make it this far east. That's the point.
🧭 Fly to Nakashibetsu Airport or drive east from Kushiro. Distances are big; plan unhurried days.
Nemuro highlights
Japan's famed first sunrise
Cape Nosappu is famed as the spot on mainland Japan that greets the earliest dawn, islands scattered offshore.
Notsuke Peninsula
A surreal sand spit of ghost forests, deer herds and shallow-water horizons.
Whales & orcas off Rausu
Summer boat tours on the Nemuro Strait meet whales, orcas and seabird clouds.
Hanasaki crab
Nemuro's signature crab, at its best in late summer — eaten with sea views.
The 5 towns of Nemuro
Click a town to jump to its entry
Nemuro根室市
Nemuro city holds mainland Japan's easternmost cape and famed first sunrise, sweet hanasaki crab, and bird-rich lagoons that obsess ornithologists.
Nemuro town page →Betsukai別海町
Betsukai produces more raw milk than any town in Japan and stretches along Notsuke — a sandspit of deer, ice horizons and drowned forests.
Betsukai town page →Nakashibetsu中標津町
Nakashibetsu's Kaiyodai lookout serves a 330-degree horizon of dairy grid-fields — eastern Hokkaido's airport town and milkland capital.
Nakashibetsu town page →Shibetsu標津町
Shibetsu (the Nemuro one) is salmon town — a dedicated salmon science park, autumn runs, and some of Japan's best ikura.
Shibetsu town page →Rausu羅臼町
Rausu is the wild side of Shiretoko — summer boats chase sperm whales and orcas in the strait; winter brings sea eagles to the pack ice.
Rausu town page →
Guides that cover Nemuro
The Wild East: A Traveler's Case for Eastern Hokkaido
Choose Kushiro or Memanbetsu airport and one base for Kushiro Marsh, Akan–Mashu, Abashiri or Shiretoko, with car-free and rental-car checks before you book.
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Shiretoko Activities Guide: Five Lakes, Cruises and Where to Stay
Choose between Utoro and Rausu, compare Five Lakes walks and cruises, and check meeting points, seasonal access and cancellation terms before booking.
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